Update: Former scout donates $3M to Samoset Council

Albert Hanna (right) presented his $3 million donation to Boy Scouts of America for the Samoset Council in north-central Wisconsin at an event in Chicago this week.
Jeff Ottosen, scout executive, stands at the far left next to
Samoset Council President Patrick Wallschlaeger and
Gabi Salimi, vice president of wealth management at Northern Trust.(Photo: Contributed photo)

WAUSAU A former north-central Wisconsin Boy Scout announced Tuesday that he is donating $3 million to his former group to help deserving kids experience Samoset Council Scouting.

Albert Hanna designated that the donation be used to help underserved kids in the area, according to a news release from the Samoset Council. Of the gift, $2.5 million will go to the Tesomas Alumni Camping Trust, which sends youths to summer camp. The remainder will supplement the Al and Chris Hanna Eagle Scout Scholarship Program to help Eagle Scouts pay for college.

"Al has been a supporter of ours for a very long time," said Jeff Ottosen, executive director of the Samoset Council. "What he's done for youth in Scouts in our area has just been phenomenal."

Hanna, who joined the Scouts in 1942 when his family lived in Mosinee, is excited about serving kids, even those who are not always easy to reach, including minorities and children from low-income households, Ottosen said.

Hanna said that's because he grew up during World War II and knows what it's like to live without a lot of resources. He began working by age 12, he said, collecting metal scraps while others were off at war.

Ottosen said the gift, while appreciated, was not much of a surprise; the council and Hanna have been discussing it for months.

The 84-year-old Hanna, a prominent real-estate executive in Chicago, was quick to downplay the donation Tuesday when contacted by Daily Herald Media.

"It's not a big thing," Hanna said. "It's a very small thing."

Hanna grew up in Stevens Point and after joining the Scouts, he was both a camper and staffer at Camp Tesomas in Rhinelander.

The Tesomas Alumni Camping Trust, established in 1997, has already distributed $224,000 in camp scholarships to 2,700 Scouts. The $2.5 million injection will supplement the trust and expand the group's outreach efforts. Those dollars are intended to increase diversity, remove barriers that keep families from participating in Boy Scouts and cover the cost of books and uniforms for underserved youths.

The Eagle Scout scholarship program began in 2008 and has provided $46,000 in scholarships. Hanna's gift adds $500,000 to that program.

"I have never forgotten the principles that I learned in Scouting nor have I forgotten the friendships I developed," Hanna said in the council's news release. "Those principles and people have inspired me to give back to my community when I see a need."

The Samoset Council serves 320 youths in 13 counties in north central Wisconsin.

Nora G. Hertel can be reached at 715-845-0665. Find her on Twitter as @nghertel.